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NEWS India-South Africa Series 2006>Cape Town Test evenly poised 04th Jan 2007 22.19 IST By Manish Kumar With a difference of only 41 runs in their first innings’ scores, the third Test between India and South Africa at Newlands in Cape Town is now evenly poised. On an engrossing day of cricket, South Africa batted well aided by three good partnerships but India also kept taking wickets at regular intervals to keep the Test alive that holds the key to a series victory.
Smith looked all set for a century, but was denied by Anil Kumble who had Smith (94) caught at short mid-on by a diving Virender Shewag . Smith added 159 runs for the second wicket with Amla. Two overs later, S Sreesanth had Amla (63) caught behind by Dinesh Kaarthick to reduce the hosts to 177/3. At that stage India had the chance to pin South Africa down but were defied by a 83-run partnership between Jacques Henry Kallis and Ashwell Prince for the fourth wicket, during which Kallis reached his 41st fifty. That partnership was broken by Sachin Tendulkar , who was turning the ball square today – a la Shane Warne! Sachin had Kallis (54) caught at deep mid-wicket by Munaf Patel . In the next over, Prince (26) edged a Kumble delivery onto his stumps to have South Africa at 260/5. Herschelle Gibbs (7) was unlucky to be given out by Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf off Sehwag. The big off-break hit the thigh pad and Wasim Jaffer took the catch at forward short leg and Gibbs was sent back to the pavilion. With South Africa at 281/6, India again had the chance to stamp their authority in the game but a partnership of 69 runs between Mark Verdon Boucher and Shaun Maclean Pollock kept India off the hook. It was Zaheer Khan who broke that partnership with the second new ball having Pollock (31) caught at first slip by Sourav Ganguly . Boucher reached his hard-fought fifty before Munaf had him caught behind by Kaarthick and in the next over Kumble dismissed Dale Steyn (1) and Makhaya Ntini (0) off successive deliveries to bowl South Africa out 373 in their first innings. The game is fascinatingly poised, yes, but the big question is does India have the bowling arsenal to bowl out South Africa in the fourth innings? Munaf was limping today and so was Sreesanth. But while Sreesanth got the scare while bowling, Munaf doesn’t seem to have recovered full from his ankle injury that kept him out of the last Test due to which today his deliveries – with the second new ball – hardly touched 125 kmph and also affected his fielding. And that brings the onus on Kumble who took four wickets today, but first the Indian batsmen have to build a big second innings score. Yes, the game is fascinatingly poised. Also View In-Depth Coverage: India-South Africa Series 2006 Team Page: India Team Page: South Africa | LIVE CRICKET COVERAGE NEWS ~ Gilchrist has no plans to retire after World Cup ~ Ganguly's new batting approach may cost him sixer record ~ India 'squash the Orange' in World Cup warm-up game ~ Symonds gets a new hairdo for World Cup ~ Dhoni readies himself for stand-up act at World Cup (more in NEWS) FACE-TO-FACE ~ 500-mark a possibility in World Cup: Hayden ~ Minnows add charm to World Cup: Dravid (more in FACE-TO-FACE) COLUMNS ~ Will Sri Lanka replicate 1996 World Cup success? (more in COLUMNS) OFF-THE-FIELD ~ Ganguly again the darling of corporate world ~ Ganguly roped in as brand ambassador of Puma (more in OFF-THE-FIELD) PLAYERS Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble (more PLAYERS) TEAMS India, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, West Indies, Zimbabwe, England, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Kenya, Holland | 
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